Fight or Flight - a McRoll in the REAL World story by Ilna & Mari
by Mari217
Summary: Steve explains to Jacob why he's 'wired a little differently' than most people when it comes to fight or flight.


_**Ilna's Notes:**_ _I didn't do a heck of a lot, but I'm happy to have suggested an idea you could run with, Mari :-)_

 _SuperSammy - hope you are back to your super self soon!_

 _Readers and REAL McRollers - thank you for your awesome support!_

 _ **Mari's Notes:**_ _You did plenty, Ilna and the blasts while Sammy wasn't feeling well. Sammy, we love you, and we've got you covered, because la famiglia! Feel 100% soon!  
_

 _REAL McRollers and Readers - thanks as always you make us smile every day._

* * *

 **Fight or Flight**

"You had to give your oral report today, didn't you?" Steve asked as he and Jacob walked down the sidewalk in the general direction of Kamekona's shave ice truck. Steve tried to spend a little one-on-one time with each of the Allen kids every other month or so since generally they were all together as a large group. Today he'd picked Jacob up from the Boys and Girls Club and when asked, Jacob had said he wanted to go get shave ice and watch the surfers.

"Yeah!" Jacob said. "Mine went really good. Except when I dropped my cards. I forgot to number them so my report was a little out of order."

Steve chuckled at Jacob's unaffected shrug. "Tigers, right?"

"Yep. Tigers are the biggest big cats in the world, did you know that, Uncle Steve?"

"I did," Steve said with a smile. "What else did you learn?"

"That every tiger's stripes are different. Like a fingerprint!" He held up his thumb to demonstrate. His face fell. "And I learned that tigers are endangered. That means there aren't very many left in the wild because they don't have as many places to live anymore and sometimes people kill them."

Steve nodded. "That's a big problem."

"Yeah, Kaitlyn helped me research that part for my report. She said it was important that I tell all my classmates so more people know and can try to help."

"That _is_ important," Steve agreed. "And it definitely sounds like something Kaitlyn would want to help with."

"Yeah."

"So how were the other reports?" Steve asked and grinned. "Did any of your classmates pick something as cool as tigers?"

Jacob grinned back, then his eyes widened. "Oh! Keone did his report on spiders and then Sydney freaked out because she's afraid of spiders and so is Owen and Ani and Ameera and Kalea, and it took _forever_ 'til Mr. McCormick got everyone to stop screaming."

"Screaming?"

"Yeah, they were all acting like there were spiders right on their desks or something but Keone just showed a picture. It wasn't a big deal."

"I'm glad to hear you're not afraid of spiders," Steve said. "We need them around."

"That's what Mr. McCormick said. They eat bugs."

"Right."

"And Mr. McCormick said it's okay to be afraid. He said people are afraid of lots of things and everyone in class started talking about what they're afraid of. Like … ghosts and clowns and birds and the dark and heights and talking in front of the class and stuff like that." Jacob stopped walking and looked up at Steve. "Hey, are you afraid of anything, Uncle Steve?"

Steve looked into Jacob's serious face and knew he deserved a thoughtful response. They were near an empty bench, so he gestured them toward it.

"Well, let's see …" Steve sat down and Jacob followed suit. Gracie had asked him a similar question when she was about ten. He smiled a bit at the memory. He visualized a fourth grade version of his niece looking at him with earnest brown eyes and glanced down before meeting Jacobs's bright blue ones.

"Sometimes, the part of human instinct that makes people feel afraid can serve a purpose. Let's say you're walking by yourself with a friend and you have a choice to walk on a brightly lit street or down a dark alley. Which one do you choose?"

"The bright street!" Jacob responded immediately.

"Exactly right. Do you know why?"

"Mom said to?"

Steve smiled. "Definitely. But in addition to you're being a good listener, and I know your mom and Cody and the rest of us who love you have told you to be careful, the dark alley seems like kind of a scary choice, right?"

Now the blonde head bobbed in agreement.

"That's your instinct telling you it's safer to stay where there's lights and people. Those are the times when the little bit of fear that's sort of hard wired into your brain from prehistoric times can help keep you safe."

"Ohh, so you mean like when the cave people went out to hunt they went in a big group instead of alone so they could scare away the man-eating dinosaurs and not get eaten?"

Steve grinned at Jacobs's usual enthusiasm if not his scientific accuracy. "Yeah, buddy. Like that. It's programmed into the human brain."

Jacob nodded again and pondered that before restating his original question. "So, are you afraid of _anything_?" His expression clearly showed he doubted his uncle was.

"Not really, but I'm …" Steve paused, considering how to phrase it. "Let's say I'm wired a little differently. I'm not scared of things so much as I see a problem and try to solve it." When Jacob blinked up at him, he continued. "Part of that's just me, and a lot of it is something I learned in the Navy."

"In the SEALs, right?"

"Right."

"They teach you how to not be scared?" His eyes widened. "How?"

"Well, there's a part of our brain that processes fear and anger, and it gets us to act. It tells our bodies when we're in danger and starts up something called a fight or flight response. **"**

Jacob punched at the air. "Fight a flight?"

Steve smiled. "Fight _or_ flight. It means your brain tells you whether you should react to something and there're two responses: to stay and fight and face the danger, that's the fight response; or run and find safety, that's flight. Understand?"

"I think so. You stay and fight to help good people and catch bad ones." He thought a minute. "Aunt Catherine says lots of brave people get afraid; they just do what's gotta be done anyway."

"She's one hundred percent right." His eyes softened as he smiled. "Aunt Catherine usually is."

Jacob grinned his agreement. "Yeah. So … how come inside your brain is different so you're not afraid?"

Steve snorted a laugh. "You sound like Uncle Danny. Part of training in BUDs …"

"That's SEAL school, right?"

"Yeah. Part of our training works on changing the way we respond to fear. So it's not just me. After all the training, SEALs just end up being wired a little differently."

"Mom says differences are good." He scratched at the edges of the bandaid gracing his knee. "How do they wire your brain?"

"Your mom's right. And there's a lot of ways we're trained. For example, the Navy figured out most mistakes in battle are because people get afraid and panic, so, we're taught to control that response. We're put into …" He sought the right words as he recalled the hooded box drills where a hood rendered him blind and deaf in a combat situation. Once it was ripped off, he'd had seconds to respond. "We're put into situations that are scary. Over and over and over. Once that happens enough times, we don't react with emotion because when we do, we fail. Eventually, for the guys who make it, the logical part of our brains respond faster because the emotional part is under control." He looked at the fascinated expression on Jacob's face. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it does. You get used to being around scary stuff so it's not so scary anymore. Then you can think more clear 'cause you're not afraid."

Steve ruffled the blond hair and nodded. "You got it, buddy."

Jacob studied his uncle for a moment and grinned. "Cool," he noted with an almost-ten-year-old's approval and attention span before standing up. "Can we get shave ice now?"

* * *

"How was your afternoon?" Catherine greeted him with a kiss and held Angie up to do the same.

"Good." He rubbed Cammie's ears and took a seat next to his wife on the sofa. "Jacob asked me about fear. Seems they discussed it in school."

She smiled softly as Angie stood in her lap and walked across her legs and onto Steve's.

"He asked if I was afraid of anything. When I told him not really, he asked why not."

"Ahhh." She nodded in understanding.

"I think he understood the basics."

"You explained suppressed emotional responses mean less lag time between the fear response and the frontal lobe logic process?" She raised a brow. "Or he knows you're naturally brave?" She rubbed his bicep as Angie bounced on his legs while holding his hands.

"He knows SEALs are wired differently for fight or flight." He returned her smile.

"Dada, up, dada."

He smiled. "Up? You're already up." He pulled her close and kissed her cheek until she giggled. "How about we go all the way up?" He stood and flew her in a circle as uproarious baby laughter filled the room. He looked at Catherine. "How's that for flight?"

"Mo Dada!"

"She's got your brave gene."

He smirked. "And yours."

Remembering how Al Cuzzi often mentioned his daughter had been born with the bravery of a SEAL, and Hoss calling his own youngest girl his mini-me, Steve gave Angie a dazzling smile.

"DADADADADA" Angie giggled and tugged at his collar. "MO!"

"Okay, once more," he said and repeated the action before looking down at Catherine as their daughter shrieked with glee.

"Looks like it runs in the family," she said, as she watched them both with bright, dancing eyes.

 _# End thanks for reading_

* * *

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